


The Right Fit

by DawnsEternalLight



Series: Halloween Content War 2018 [1]
Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: Costumes, Damian is a puddle, Fluff, Gen, Sickfic, dog costumes, floppy boi, halloween content war 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 16:41:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16453580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnsEternalLight/pseuds/DawnsEternalLight
Summary: Dick's collected a bunch of costumes for Damian to dress Titus up in.





	The Right Fit

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the Halloween Content War 2018 theme: Festive. It counts because they're getting Titus dressed up for a party right? Right.

Titus sneezed, spraying Dick’s palm with a puff of air and dog slobber. He eyed the animal and finished adjusting the foam hat that was the finishing touches to Titus’s AT-AT costume, making sure it didn’t cover his ears and the sides were well away from creating another sneeze. When he finished he gave Titus a pat on his head, wiping the sneeze and slobber off on the little hat as carefully as he could without knocking off the accessory and let his hand drop to the bed.

Dick hadn’t had much of a plan when he’d picked out an armload of costumes for Titus. His main goal had been to find a way to help cheer up Damian, who’d been stuck at home for days with a cold. He knew his brother had mentioned dressing the dog up for the manor’s upcoming Halloween party, but Damian’s sudden illness had prevented him leaving to find the perfect costume. Really, Dick was killing two birds with one stone, finding the perfect costume and giving Damian a much needed distraction from being sick.

The AT-AT costume fit...okay? Titus was a big dog and when Dick had been picking out costumes he’d done it in the ‘grab what looked fun’ style instead of the ‘what will actually fit’ one. He refused to admit he’d forgotten to consider size while at the store. He had remembered, somewhere in the back of his mind. Titus’s legs were mostly covered, and the light foam suit for his back looked more like a saddle than armor, but it was fun and Titus didn’t seem to mind. He’d even sat and let Dick dress him with little more than the sneeze and a huff of mild impatience.

This was costume number three, and Dick wasn’t excited about leaning forward again to take the costume off Titus. He was comfortable and warm in his place on the floor. Besides, moving would unsettle the warmth against his chest, and might knock the weight out of his lap.

That warmth jerked as Damian sneezed, his back lifting from Dick’s stomach with the force of the air exiting his lungs, only to land back with a thump. He sunk back into Dick’s chest like a stuffed animal dropped in place, somewhat able to stand on its own but mostly flopped where it was laid.

Dick wrapped his arms around his brother and squeezed gently, “You okay?”

“”Mm fine.” Damian said, voice barely above a whisper.

“Need more tea?”

His brother shook his head, and leaned slightly out of Dick’s lap, pulling against Dick’s gentle hold to lift his mug from the rug. He let himself settle back in place with the mug cupped between his hands.

From this angle Dick had a good view of how much liquid was left in the mug and, no matter what his brother said, Damian was getting a little low. He’d been chugging tea like Alfred did when he and Bruce had had a fight- scalding hot and by the cup. Dick couldn’t blame him, he preferred hot drinks whenever his throat was so sore he could barely talk too. He considered shifting them so he could get Damian more tea, but discarded the idea when his brother yawned. Maybe less tea and more sleep was the option, if he could lead Damian to it.

Titus shoved his nose against one of Damian’s arms as he tilted the mug to take another sip. Dick was happy it was mostly empty as liquid sloshed inside it. Damian released a hand from the mug to tug at the hat Dick had just adjusted.

“This is not the one.” he said, voice hoarse and slightly irritated.

“No?” Dick asked.

“No.” Damian rasped, pulling the hat off Titus completely, “It’s too small. You have another?”

They’d tried the AT-AT, a turtle, and Sherlock Holmes so far, and even the ones that fit perfectly had not been up to Damian’s standards. Dick had three left, only a few chances left to cheer up his sick little brother and to find an appropriate Halloween costume for his pet.

“Okay. I’ve got War Horse, Hot Dog, and a surprise one.” Dick told him, “but one of us is going to have to go get them.” Dick pointed to the coffee table a few feet away from where they were seated on the floor. On it was the last shopping bag filled with dog costumes.

“Tt, nonsense.” Damian said, “Titus will get them.” He then attempted to whistle, but ended up coughing instead.

“As impressed as I am that you trained Titus to fetch things from the coffee table, I think this is a job for me this time.” Dick said, first plucking the almost empty mug from Damian’s hand to return to the floor, before moving to lift him out of his lap. His brother squirmed, not quite protesting in favor of another series of coughs.

Dick stilled long enough for him to settle down then grinned at Damian, shifting him so that when Dick stood, Damian was still in his arms, only facing his chest now, his chin on Dick’s shoulder. A puff of air against his neck was the only response Damian gave beyond going almost totally boneless in his grip.

Dick scooped up the bag and motioned for Titus to follow them, adding the little snap Damian had taught him to convince the dog to follow him. He really was trained quite well. Against his shoulder Damian hummed.

“‘itus, comeon boy.” He said, the words both muffled and doing little to spur on the already moving dog.

They moved upstairs to Damian’s room. Dick shifted him to his hip, holding him with one arm while he opened the door to swing it open. Titus hopped up onto the bed before Dick sat down on it. Once Dick was settled, with his legs crossed on the mattress, Damian finally moved. He slipped off Dick’s shoulder to flop his face against his chest with his cheek pressed up against Dick’s shirt.

Sleepy green eyes blinked up at him before squinting, “Why’re we here?”

“Because you need to sleep.” Dick answered, before reaching up to run a hand through Damian’s hair, smoothing back the dark strands mussed by his flopping around.

Damian rolled his eyes at him and pushed himself up, “We have not found a proper costume yet.” He went to climb off Dick’s lap, but was stopped as Dick looped an arm around his chest and tugged him back.

“You’re not moving. You can reach Titus from here. If you can’t then I’m sure you’ve taught him to come when called.”

Damian huffed at him, but patted his thigh and Titus did move closer. Dick leaned back and opened the horse bag as Damian stripped off the AT-AT costume. One by one he handed his brother the pieces to a war horse costume, and the tiny knight that was supposed to go on Titus’s back.

Titus had a few pieces of the costume on before Damian huffed and started taking it back off with an irritated, “Not this one either.”

The next one was the hotdog costume, Damian scoffed at it, but dressed Titus in it all the same. Dick couldn’t help but giggle at the dog as his tail swished back and forth happily on the bed, a dart of black behind the bright colored costume.

Damian’s response to this costume was a muffled snort of laughter. Dick poked his side, and smiled down at him.

“Better?” he asked.

“Still not what he should wear, it should be suited to him--” Damian was stopped by a yawn that turned into a cough.

Dick rubbed circles into his back, frowning. He really needed to be sleeping, not playing dress up, but Dick hated letting him fall asleep irritated. And a sick Damian was all too often an irritated one.

“Well then, I guess we have to try my secret weapon.” Dick said, tugging out the last costume, holding the plastic bag out for Damian to see.

His brother’s smile was enough to draw one out of Dick as well, “I thought you’d like it.”

Together they dressed Titus up in the last costume, Dick letting Damian tugg the mask on over Titus’s head to complete the look. The black costume matched his fur well, and the cape was long enough to look good, but not tangle his legs.

“Damian, meet Bat dog. Batdog, good boy.” Dick said, reaching out to pet Titus’s head, his hand moving to scratch behind one of his ears.

“Father will be irritated with this choice.”

“Will he, though?” Dick mused. “I’m pretty sure I dressed Ace up like this once. Green Lantern the next time, and I don’t have to tell you which one Bruce liked less.”

Damian chuckled, the sound turning into a wheeze then light cough.

“Okay, bedtime.” Dick said, “Let’s get this off Titus and then you are sleeping.”

“The sun has not even set.” Damian said.

“And you were half asleep on my shoulder walking here. A burst of energy does not a well boy make.” Dick said, already working to pull the costume off Titus.

Damian pulled the mask off Titus and slumped back into Dick’s chest as he folded it. His hands didn’t reach up to fumble with any more of the costume as Dick worked on it. Apparently their quest for the perfect costume over, combined with Dick’s words had made Damian let down his guard. The energy from their project faded more and more the longer Dick worked on pulling the costume off Titus. When he finished undressing the dog he tugged the folded mask out of Damian’s hand and tucked everything back in the bag, dropping it to the floor by the bed.

He shifted his slumped brother off his chest and onto the bed proper. Titus moved to lay next to Damian once Dick had settled him in, with the blankets pulled up to his neck. Damian tugged an arm out from under them and draped it over Titus, his eyelids fluttering open at Dick. His other hand reached for Dick’s wrist slipping out of the side of the blankets. He didn’t say anything but he did tug on Dick’s arm, the movement enough to tell Dick all he needed to know. Dick ran a hand through his hair and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“I’ll stay until you’re well and truly asleep.” he promised.

Damian smiled, and snuggled his face into his pillow. “Thanks.” he said.

Dick let his fingers brush Damian’s hair back again, “Always, kiddo.” 


End file.
